Youth unemployment rises to 4-quarter high of 15% in Jan-March

The unemployment rate, according to Current Weekly Status, among those 15 years and above also saw a marginal increase to 5% in January-March from 4.8% in October-December. Unemployment among young males rose to 14% from 13.5% in the October-December quarter.

According to the CWS approach, a person was considered unemployed in a week if they did not work even for one hour on any day during the reference week but sought or was available for work for at least one hour on any day during the reference week.

What does PLFS data suggest?

The PLFS showed a marginal decline in overall urban unemployment and a slight rise in rural joblessness. According to the report, the unemployment rate in urban areas stood at 6.6% during the March quarter, down from 6.7% in October–December. In contrast, rural unemployment edged up to 4.3% from 4.0% in the previous quarter.

VP Singh, PGPM Director, Economics at Great Lakes Institute of Management Gurgaon cited poor skill development as the reason for rising unemployment among youth. He also said that GenAI and geopolitical factors have throttled job creation.

The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) remained steady at the all-India level at 55.5%, compared to 55.8% in the previous quarter. Female LFPR across India stood at 34.7%, marginally lower than 34.9% in the October–December quarter. The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) at the national level declined slightly to 52.8% from 53.1%.

In rural regions, the proportion of regular wage and salaried employees increased to 15.5% from 14.8% in the preceding quarter. Meanwhile, the share of self-employed persons declined to 62.5% from 63.2%. The distribution of workers by employment status in urban areas remained broadly stable.

Sectoral distribution of employment

The sectoral distribution of employment continued to show the traditional pattern, with rural workers predominantly engaged in agriculture and urban workers concentrated in the tertiary sector. In rural areas, the share of workers in agriculture dropped to 55.8% in the January–March quarter from 58.5% in October–December. The tertiary sector’s share rose from 20.6% to 21.7%, while the secondary sector (including mining and quarrying) increased from 20.9% to 22.6%.

Using projected population figures from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the NSO estimated that an average of 574 million persons aged 15 years and above were employed in the country during the quarter. Of these, 402 million were male and 172 million were female.

The survey, covering a total of 5,61,822 persons aged 15 years and above, is the fourth quarterly bulletin in the series that provides separate estimates for rural and urban areas.